Is Anything gone wrong?
We are deaf with indifference, and the Mumbai blasts should be loud enough to wake us up.
Wake us up to understand : what has become of us - us as a nation!
Will you pay donation to get your child educated at that elite school?
Or will you compromise on her education?
Will you pay bribe to get that seat in the railway compartment?
or Will you suffer the discomfort of standing and travelling?
Will you pay the 100/- to traffic inspector and save time and money?
or Will you instead park on the side, settle the fine, waste time and money?
Will you watch that nice movie available on the net?
Or wait like a fool for three months before the DVD is officially released?
Will you be street smart or a dumb person? Which one will you be?
So what can I do?
We ask what the politicians are doing, what is police doing, what has happened to this world?
We never ask - what has become of us? What has happened? Why has our core competency of being adjusting in nature has become our core rigidity of "chalta hai". Everything goes - we take everything in our stride!
Corruption has set in every small thing - it has become part of us - we don't even feel now that somethings are bad!
Imagine, from where will the policemen, armymen, the workforce will be drawn from?
From us - they are us - they inherit our core rigidity of "chalta hai" from us.
How can we expect them to be suddenly holy and saintly?
Still, what can I do?
So,what can I do - can I be foolish - as the world overtakes me - acts street smart?
Am I a weakling? What is in it for me NOT to be corrupt? No one catches me - and its all in so small things - no one minds?
Why shall I do anything about corruption? I cannot be a martyr - you see - I have my company to run, my family to take care, my responsibilities to fulfill.
But if I still don't wake up - what else do I need?
What if my family was in Taj that fateful day?
Isn't this a grim enough reminder, that forget conscience, forget duty, forget responsibility, just for my own sake - it is high time that I stop being corrupt.
The fight has come to my home - I need to stop this corruption - and I have the power to do it.
If each one of stop being corrupt in small things - there could still be a difference made.
Let the feeling of guiltcome back into corruption. Let that ticket checker, that traffic inspector feel ashamed in asking for a bribe.
Stop corruption, be awake - please now before its too late
Monday, December 22, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Core Rigidities
A definition:
Flip side of core competencies, and caused by overreliance on any advantage(s) for too long. While a successful firm's management relaxes its improvement efforts, others keep on getting better and obsolete its competitive advantage.
Are we by nature also like this?
We stop challenging ourselves - and relax our individual improvement efforts - and what used to be a core competency for me when I was 30 yr, becomes a core rigidity by the time I'm 35??
If its true for me - in past few years - imagine the rigidities I have developed over last 32 yrs of my life!!
And now think of a culture that goes beyond decades - and is measured in Centuries!!
Came across this concept of "Capitalization Problem" by Malcom Gladwell. It talks of what stops us from reaching our full potential!
He gives an example:
He refers to James Flynn, an academic who got really interested in why Chinese immigrants to the US vastly outperform white Americans. Within one generation, they’re achieving at an extraordinary rate. The difference is not usefully described by differences in IQ. The cap rates for people who are smart enough to be a professional who end up being a professional is vastly different in different communities: 78% in Chinese American community rather than 60% in the white community? How are they able to capitalize on this? Flynn suggests it’s because they work harder, and Gladwell agrees. But why?
If you take a group of Chinese schoolkids and a group of American 10-year-olds and give them a complex maths task and time them at it, you’ll find the American kids give up after 2 minutes; the Chinese kids will still be working after 15 minutes. It’s about persistence: it’s the consequence of ingrained cultural notions of how hard you should work.
This is a cultural problem.
Core Rigidities and competencies of Indian Population?
So how do we go about unlocking the great potential we have within our nation?
Do we have core competencies and core rigidities that need to be unlocked? How do we go about identifying them and then leveraging them?
In my quest of contributing to alleviating poverty - to go beyond mental masturbation - and really act - I feel the key is in:
identifying these rigidities - against which I will have to fight, and
identifying the competencies - they will have to be leveraged
Let me start with identifying the core competencies of the "Rural Indian Market" - thats where the 70% of people reside - people who do not participate in the great debates in popular media - people who still die of hunger, malnutrition and preventable diseases...
I'm sure they don't want to die - and I don't have any data, but I'm sure their IQ and zest for life is not below their Urban bretherens..
So why do they die? Why are they poor? What core competencies can we leverage upon and get them going?
I need your support in identifying the core competencies first.
Please do post comments about your ideas - what could be the core competencies of the "Indian Rural Population"
Flip side of core competencies, and caused by overreliance on any advantage(s) for too long. While a successful firm's management relaxes its improvement efforts, others keep on getting better and obsolete its competitive advantage.
Are we by nature also like this?
We stop challenging ourselves - and relax our individual improvement efforts - and what used to be a core competency for me when I was 30 yr, becomes a core rigidity by the time I'm 35??
If its true for me - in past few years - imagine the rigidities I have developed over last 32 yrs of my life!!
And now think of a culture that goes beyond decades - and is measured in Centuries!!
Came across this concept of "Capitalization Problem" by Malcom Gladwell. It talks of what stops us from reaching our full potential!
He gives an example:
He refers to James Flynn, an academic who got really interested in why Chinese immigrants to the US vastly outperform white Americans. Within one generation, they’re achieving at an extraordinary rate. The difference is not usefully described by differences in IQ. The cap rates for people who are smart enough to be a professional who end up being a professional is vastly different in different communities: 78% in Chinese American community rather than 60% in the white community? How are they able to capitalize on this? Flynn suggests it’s because they work harder, and Gladwell agrees. But why?
If you take a group of Chinese schoolkids and a group of American 10-year-olds and give them a complex maths task and time them at it, you’ll find the American kids give up after 2 minutes; the Chinese kids will still be working after 15 minutes. It’s about persistence: it’s the consequence of ingrained cultural notions of how hard you should work.
This is a cultural problem.
Core Rigidities and competencies of Indian Population?
So how do we go about unlocking the great potential we have within our nation?
Do we have core competencies and core rigidities that need to be unlocked? How do we go about identifying them and then leveraging them?
In my quest of contributing to alleviating poverty - to go beyond mental masturbation - and really act - I feel the key is in:
identifying these rigidities - against which I will have to fight, and
identifying the competencies - they will have to be leveraged
Let me start with identifying the core competencies of the "Rural Indian Market" - thats where the 70% of people reside - people who do not participate in the great debates in popular media - people who still die of hunger, malnutrition and preventable diseases...
I'm sure they don't want to die - and I don't have any data, but I'm sure their IQ and zest for life is not below their Urban bretherens..
So why do they die? Why are they poor? What core competencies can we leverage upon and get them going?
I need your support in identifying the core competencies first.
Please do post comments about your ideas - what could be the core competencies of the "Indian Rural Population"
Friday, August 15, 2008
Where the mind is without fear
and head is held high:
CRPF open fires in Srinagar 21 injured
India in the elite club of PSLV owners
India a trillion dollar economy
Where knowledge is free;
The data released by the ministry to the press information bureau is a bit outdated as it relates to figures from 2002 to 2005. Nonetheless, the trends are an eyeopener:
Compared to the national average of 60.92 per cent, Bihar dropouts from classes I to X were over 83 per cent in 2004-2005 followed by Meghalaya and West Bengal. Is even a drop put rate of 60.92 something to be happy about?
IISC, IITs, IIMs, XLRIs provide India with the young leaders of tomorrow. The institutes are world class! Indian diaspora is shining in silicon valley, the financial hubs and the centres of power. This is something to be proud of :-)
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls:
Cauvery water dispute, Telanagan agitation, Separatist movements are the walls dividing the nation into fragments.
SKS Microfinance, Amul, Aravind eye care on the other hand are few initiatives trying to span across the domestic walls and make an impact.
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Bribe money allegations Rock Lok Sabha!
Medha Patekar goes on a 20 day fast to protest against the Narmada Dam!
Dr. Binayak Sen spends a year in Jail.
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Bangalore has a flyover with a traffic light on it - perhaps the worlds first flyover??
ISRO announces Chabrayan, India's frist mission to moon - wow we have come a long way.
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit:
India gave "Zero" to the world - perhaps the single most important gift to mankind.
Witches are still burnt alive in the remote villages!
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought
and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake
This poem from Rabrindranath Tagore is a prayer that we have partially answered. We have all the means to achieve it. We are perfectly poised to take the next big leap - only thing we need is to be awake!!
CRPF open fires in Srinagar 21 injured
India in the elite club of PSLV owners
India a trillion dollar economy
Where knowledge is free;
The data released by the ministry to the press information bureau is a bit outdated as it relates to figures from 2002 to 2005. Nonetheless, the trends are an eyeopener:
Compared to the national average of 60.92 per cent, Bihar dropouts from classes I to X were over 83 per cent in 2004-2005 followed by Meghalaya and West Bengal. Is even a drop put rate of 60.92 something to be happy about?
IISC, IITs, IIMs, XLRIs provide India with the young leaders of tomorrow. The institutes are world class! Indian diaspora is shining in silicon valley, the financial hubs and the centres of power. This is something to be proud of :-)
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls:
Cauvery water dispute, Telanagan agitation, Separatist movements are the walls dividing the nation into fragments.
SKS Microfinance, Amul, Aravind eye care on the other hand are few initiatives trying to span across the domestic walls and make an impact.
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Bribe money allegations Rock Lok Sabha!
Medha Patekar goes on a 20 day fast to protest against the Narmada Dam!
Dr. Binayak Sen spends a year in Jail.
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Bangalore has a flyover with a traffic light on it - perhaps the worlds first flyover??
ISRO announces Chabrayan, India's frist mission to moon - wow we have come a long way.
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit:
India gave "Zero" to the world - perhaps the single most important gift to mankind.
Witches are still burnt alive in the remote villages!
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought
and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake
This poem from Rabrindranath Tagore is a prayer that we have partially answered. We have all the means to achieve it. We are perfectly poised to take the next big leap - only thing we need is to be awake!!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Mob: Is anonymity the pillar for it?
Mob, why is it so dangerous?
Is it because it brings the dark side out of the otherwise pleasant human beings.
But how come the beings with a hidden dark side manage to be pleasant outside the mob?
The very person with whom you had a meaningful conversation over a tea at your own home - does not think twice before breaking your bones once in a mob.
What gives mob this enormous team power? Why is an innocent bystander lynched, a woman molested, a thief killed by the mob? What clouds the individual rational behaviour? Why at work our teams don't have the single mindedness of a mob?
I think what gives mob its power is Anonymity!!
Take a deep breath - and now think:
What are the top three things you will do if you woke up from sleep and found yourself invisible? What are your darkest desires?
Once there is anonymity, there is no more social policing left. You are left with just you - no other social obligations to worry for. Have you ever logged into the web under a pseudonym? What keeps you in check is just you, your discipline and values.
Mob is like logging into this world with an anonymous account - and it brings out for all to see what we are deep inside.
So how to control this mob? Is there a way to break the anonymity? Is there a way to break the trance and make an individual think? Lets try it out the next time - by NOT addressing the mob, but the individuals inside it! Lets see it we are able to break the trance - and get the people back to rational state.
Is it because it brings the dark side out of the otherwise pleasant human beings.
But how come the beings with a hidden dark side manage to be pleasant outside the mob?
The very person with whom you had a meaningful conversation over a tea at your own home - does not think twice before breaking your bones once in a mob.
What gives mob this enormous team power? Why is an innocent bystander lynched, a woman molested, a thief killed by the mob? What clouds the individual rational behaviour? Why at work our teams don't have the single mindedness of a mob?
I think what gives mob its power is Anonymity!!
Take a deep breath - and now think:
What are the top three things you will do if you woke up from sleep and found yourself invisible? What are your darkest desires?
Once there is anonymity, there is no more social policing left. You are left with just you - no other social obligations to worry for. Have you ever logged into the web under a pseudonym? What keeps you in check is just you, your discipline and values.
Mob is like logging into this world with an anonymous account - and it brings out for all to see what we are deep inside.
So how to control this mob? Is there a way to break the anonymity? Is there a way to break the trance and make an individual think? Lets try it out the next time - by NOT addressing the mob, but the individuals inside it! Lets see it we are able to break the trance - and get the people back to rational state.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Haven't heard the birds of late
Wow, It has been a month since I'm at XLRI !!
The learning curve has been quite steep, the topics have been new, the discussions exciting.
I still remember the initial days - how I loved the greenery, the view of the distant hills, the tall trees with intricate arrangement of leaves. I had the patience to take snaps, to soak in the atmosphere, enjoy the tea, seek out company. It wasn't so long way back in past that birds had called out, a robin darted about, there was a hill myna up in the tree, and was there a snake up there as well?
Now, I don't hear the birds anymore.
They must be still there, its just that I'm preoccupied with my lessons. Learning is the REASON why I'm here, but I guess I will give the birds a chance to be heard as well.
The learning curve has been quite steep, the topics have been new, the discussions exciting.
I still remember the initial days - how I loved the greenery, the view of the distant hills, the tall trees with intricate arrangement of leaves. I had the patience to take snaps, to soak in the atmosphere, enjoy the tea, seek out company. It wasn't so long way back in past that birds had called out, a robin darted about, there was a hill myna up in the tree, and was there a snake up there as well?
Now, I don't hear the birds anymore.
They must be still there, its just that I'm preoccupied with my lessons. Learning is the REASON why I'm here, but I guess I will give the birds a chance to be heard as well.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Followership crisis
Aha, a new term to the existing forest of management terms!!
We will agree that leaders lead and managers manage. The behavioural courses and existing literature talk eloquently of various traits of being a good leader, but what about being a good follower.
Lets try to step into a shoe of a follower (he might be a leader for few members in the organisation). Lets see the world through the follower's (who is also a leader) eyes. To make matters interesting lets assume that our follower has a boss who is a manager and NOT a leader.
This implies that the organisational hierarchy instead of bringing him in touch with a leader, brings him in touch with a supervisor. Bad Luck!! Now what should this follower do?
We will agree that leaders lead and managers manage. The behavioural courses and existing literature talk eloquently of various traits of being a good leader, but what about being a good follower.
Lets try to step into a shoe of a follower (he might be a leader for few members in the organisation). Lets see the world through the follower's (who is also a leader) eyes. To make matters interesting lets assume that our follower has a boss who is a manager and NOT a leader.
This implies that the organisational hierarchy instead of bringing him in touch with a leader, brings him in touch with a supervisor. Bad Luck!! Now what should this follower do?
- Wait for next official appraisal dialogue and then escape from the supervisor?
- Remain with the supervisor and seek a leader outside the hierarchy?
- Vegetate and enjoy the supervision
Which of these options will you as a follower follow?
Friday, June 20, 2008
Nice to Know
Kuznet's curve and its implications: Came across Kuznet's curve in a lecture. It seems to reflect the current situation with India as well. The inequalities have grown as the income has risen. Isn't it beautiful how the samples across countries follow similar emperical rule!! Also, does the curve also depict the distribution of benefits in case of various other schemes aimed at social justice like : Reservation, NREGS, etc. It will be nice to see if the impact of these schemes also follow the Kuznet's curve
Fortune diggers
Trying to get in touch with fellow fortune diggers.
As Hammel Prahlad say in their book and article on "Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid" poverty has to be alleviated by means of creating choices.
I along with fellow fortune diggers will try to understand the fortune and then find it.
In the journey, I expect that we will be able to create choices for the BOP segment and hopefully trigger some entreprueners to come up from the segment.
We have few options:
- Be the idea generators and implementors
- Be the idea generators and then find implementors
- Provide framework for idea generation and later implementation to entreprueners from BOP
Of these, the last idea seems most sustainable - since entreprueners from BOP know the market. while we could provide them the necessary support in resource generation and utilisation.
Lets see how this shapes up.
As Hammel Prahlad say in their book and article on "Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid" poverty has to be alleviated by means of creating choices.
I along with fellow fortune diggers will try to understand the fortune and then find it.
In the journey, I expect that we will be able to create choices for the BOP segment and hopefully trigger some entreprueners to come up from the segment.
We have few options:
- Be the idea generators and implementors
- Be the idea generators and then find implementors
- Provide framework for idea generation and later implementation to entreprueners from BOP
Of these, the last idea seems most sustainable - since entreprueners from BOP know the market. while we could provide them the necessary support in resource generation and utilisation.
Lets see how this shapes up.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Being an Adult
Dictionary defines adult as someone :
How about defining adulthood in terms of maturity of body and mind! Maybe that will give us the complete picture.
We are living in India that seems to be made up of two distinct sub countries. On one side we have immense wealth being generated, and on the other side we have 300 million of 1.1 billion under poverty line (people earning less than 300 rupees per month).
I have sleep walked through this India, slightly aware of the environment, but chosing to ignore it. Few donations here and there, few kids sponsored for education, and my conscience is clear. This is my quest to discover myself, to find my potential, not just to earn money, but to contribute towards alleviating poverty and hunger in my country.
Its my quest for being an Adult - to make the right choices, decisions - and to make them with the right impact!
"full grown", a person who has attained the age of maturity as specified by Law!
Is this sufficient? Thats it grow till 18, come of age - and be an adult?How about defining adulthood in terms of maturity of body and mind! Maybe that will give us the complete picture.
We are living in India that seems to be made up of two distinct sub countries. On one side we have immense wealth being generated, and on the other side we have 300 million of 1.1 billion under poverty line (people earning less than 300 rupees per month).
I have sleep walked through this India, slightly aware of the environment, but chosing to ignore it. Few donations here and there, few kids sponsored for education, and my conscience is clear. This is my quest to discover myself, to find my potential, not just to earn money, but to contribute towards alleviating poverty and hunger in my country.
Its my quest for being an Adult - to make the right choices, decisions - and to make them with the right impact!
And maybe we should define adulthood as the growth of consciense!
Consciense: the inner sense of what is right or wrong.
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